Prajapati case shifted to Mumbai

To be clubbed with Sohrabuddin case.

The Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case has finally been shifted to the Mumbai court conducting the trial in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. An official of the CBI special court from Ahmedabad, appointed by the Gujarat High Court, was sent to Mumbai’s Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate on Sunday evening, along with the case documents. The case will be merged with probe into the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter that is awaiting trial.

Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal had claimed recently that BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is a potential accused in the Prajapati case. Tulsiram was gunned down by the accused in a fake encounter near Chhapri village in Banaskantha district on December 28, 2006. Tulsiram was known to be a close aide of Sohrabuddin.

The CBI investigation has claimed that the Tulsiram and Sohrabuddin cases are interlinked. The Central agency had claimed that Tulsiram was an eye-witness in Sohrabuddin encounter and that’s why he was killed in a fake encounter by the accused, many of whom are also accused in the Sohrabuddin case. The transfer of the case now means that about a dozen accused policemen lodged at Palanpur sub-jail, including IPS officer Vipul Agarwal, will be moved to Mumbai.

Once the formality of submitting the documents are over, the court might summon the accused. CBI, in its chargesheet filed in 2012, had named 19 persons, including BJP general-secretary and former minister of state for home Amit Shah. Besides, most accused, except suspended IPS officer Vipul Agrawal, Geetha Johri, DSP R K Patel, former DGP P C Pande and O P Mathur, are named in the Sohrabuddin case as well.

Three cops get bail in Sohrabuddin case

The Bombay HC on Monday granted bail to three police officers accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. It, however, granted stay on operation of its order for a week, following a request made by the CBI.